Facing Yi Tianyu’s mocking and disgusted gaze, Cheng Mingjiao bit her lower lip tightly.

She actually liked the boy standing before her very much—handsome and vibrant. Combined with her mother’s constant reminders, her desire to get along well with him was extremely strong.

But he happened to be so close to Gu Xue Jiao, the person she hated most in her life!

Yi Tianyu’s words made Cheng Mingjiao feel embarrassed and hurt. At this moment, the students in the class were looking at her with suspicious eyes. Cheng Mingjiao couldn’t help but suddenly burst into tears and ran out.

“Mingjiao—” Yu Fangfang called out from across the classroom, then looked at them angrily and said, “You’re too much!”

After speaking, she chased after Cheng Mingjiao.

“This is the first time I’ve learned that confronting someone who defamed you is considered too much…” Xue Jiao said coldly, which immediately extinguished any emerging sympathy some classmates might have felt.

Indeed, Gu Xue Jiao was the one being defamed. She had only questioned Cheng Mingjiao, so how did that become excessive?

Putting themselves in her shoes, they wondered if they would also be blamed unfairly when interacting with Cheng Mingjiao in the future.

Yi Tianyu sneered: “These two are birds of a feather. Classmates, I suggest you be careful when dealing with them in the future, otherwise they’ll defame you and still make it your fault.”

After he spoke, some people seemed to imagine this scenario and immediately resolved to stay away from Cheng Mingjiao and Yu Fangfang in the future.

Seeing this, Xue Jiao looked at Yi Tianyu: “Enough, don’t think about this anymore. Let’s study.”

Yi Tianyu: “…”

“Dummy, don’t you have anything to talk about besides studying?”

His response was met with the sound of Xue Jiao’s pen swiftly moving across the paper.

“…”

——

That night, Xue Jiao lay in bed, looking at the competition information sent by Lin Zhihua, chatting back and forth.

[Xue Jiao: Thank you!! If not for you, I really wouldn’t have known there were so many patterns in competition problems!]

[Lin Zhihua: Competition problems are also created by people. As long as they’re made by humans, there will be certain patterns.]

[Lin Zhihua: Have you finished the problems I mentioned yesterday?]

Seeing this message, Xue Jiao’s expression momentarily turned embarrassed. She rubbed her nose—this was the first time she hadn’t completed a task on time. So she awkwardly replied—

[No… something happened today that delayed me a bit.]

The other side quickly replied—

[What happened?]

Xue Jiao and Lin Zhihua had been sharing almost everything before, so she didn’t feel there was anything wrong with telling him.

[Cheng Mingjiao reported me for puppy love. The teacher called in parents, wasting a lot of time.]

At this time, Lin Zhihua had just finished washing up and was sitting on his bed with half-dry hair, chatting with the girl on the other end of the phone.

His posture was relaxed, lying casually at an angle.

—Puppy love.

When these two words appeared before Lin Zhihua, he seemed startled by something. In an instant, he shed all his casualness, shifted his body, and straightened up.

His brows slightly furrowed as he read the message over and over again.

After a while, he only replied with two words—

[Puppy love?]

[It’s false. My time is too limited—where would I find time for puppy love!]

This sentence made Lin Zhihua’s brows relax, but the ink-black whirlpool hadn’t completely dissipated. He typed out a sentence—

[The mathematics competition is a major national event. The competitors who register all have strong abilities, and inevitably some will have extraordinary talent, so you must take it seriously and give it your all. I used some good competition materials before—shall I send you a set?]

[Really?! Thank you!!! Let me pay you first!!]

[Mm, remember to spend your free time on those books.]

[Okay!!!]

Xue Jiao replied with extreme delight.

The next day.

Xue Jiao carried a huge stack of books from the school gate’s receiving room into the classroom—a full eleven books, each quite substantial in thickness!

Even though Xue Jiao typically did more problems than others, she was still shocked by this massive pile of competition problems.

She was silent for a moment, organized the other books, and took out the first one…

“Hey, dummy, how do you solve this problem?” Yi Tianyu had been sitting there all noon. Xue Jiao beside him seemed not to see him at all, continuously solving problems with her head down, having entered a state of self-absorption.

Xue Jiao didn’t respond to him, as if still immersed in another world.

Being ignored, Yi Tianyu couldn’t stand it anymore and gently nudged her: “Hey—dummy, how do you solve this…”

“I don’t have time lately. Go ask the teacher!” Xue Jiao didn’t even look up.

Yi Tianyu: “…”

After a good while, he couldn’t help asking again: “Then when will you have time?”

Xue Jiao pointed to the stack of materials at her feet that she had just received: “After I finish these.”

Yi Tianyu: “………………”

Would she ever have time then???

Who bought her these materials?

Wasn’t it wicked to buy so many?!

Xue Jiao hadn’t noticed that since she acquired that thick stack of materials, she spent less time explaining problems to Yi Tianyu and more time discussing problems with Lin Zhihua at night.

Competition problems were somewhat different from regular math problems. When Xue Jiao first encountered them, she also found them somewhat baffling.

But after immersing herself in them under Lin Zhihua’s guidance, she began to experience the pleasure of solving them.

Competition problems were broad in scope and deep in difficulty, requiring not just computational ability but more comprehensive skills like logical reasoning and inductive thinking.

She gradually began to immerse herself in the joy of problem-solving, and Lin Zhihua’s guidance was extremely important to her in this process.

Lin Zhihua never taught her specifically how to calculate a particular problem; he taught her rigorous logical thinking.

For Xue Jiao, who in her previous life had followed a conventional path and had hardly touched knowledge in this area, it was like opening another door.

As a result, Xue Jiao, who had just discovered the joy in mathematics, devoted almost all her free time to it—thinking about recent problems while eating, reflecting on the day’s mistakes while lying in bed at night, and even drawing with her fingers when sitting in the car.

“Jiaojiao, get ready quickly. We’re going to see a play at six tonight,” Li Sitong placed a cup of water beside Xue Jiao, who was “writing furiously.” Cheng Shuo, who came in with her, smiled and said.

Xue Jiao pulled her thoughts away from the math problems and looked up at them. Her expression was blank, her large eyes first vacant, then slowly focusing.

Watch a play?!

Xue Jiao seemed to suddenly come to her senses, her eyes widening in disbelief.

Her fair face looked dazed—silly and… cute.

Li Sitong couldn’t resist reaching out to rub her head: “Jiaojiao, we agreed last week to go see a play this week.”

Last week…

Oh right, Cheng Shuo and Li Sitong’s midterm exam gift for her and Cheng Mingze was for the whole family to go see a play together.

Thinking of this, Xue Jiao’s little bun face puffed up slightly.

“But…” But can I not go…

Cheng Shuo laughed: “No, you can’t. Jiaojiao, this is a family activity. You can’t miss it without a major reason.”

“Oh…” Xue Jiao deflated.

“Hurry up and get ready to go.”

“Okay.” Xue Jiao’s voice was very low as she looked reluctantly at the half-finished problem on the desk. “Let me just finish this problem!”

“This girl…” Li Sitong shook her head.

Cheng Shuo smiled and said: “Siting, bring over the clothes you bought for Jiaojiao. Let’s all dress up nicely for our outing today!”

“Alright.”

——

Xue Jiao stared blankly at the girl in the mirror. She wore a long-sleeved chiffon shirt on top and high-waisted slender trousers below—the stark contrast of black and white.

She still had her school uniform bun hairstyle. Li Sitong reached out to adjust it a bit, and the originally neat bun became loose and slightly messy, adding a touch of casualness.

“Beautiful!” Li Sitong couldn’t help but smile and say, “My daughter is so beautiful.”

This was an experience Li Sitong had never had before. In the past, Xue Jiao always dressed herself in a messy way. She could barely manage to control her, let alone think about dressing her up nicely.

Now Xue Jiao had become obedient and sensible, and her studying was unexpectedly serious and diligent, achieving enviable good results. Seeing her wearing the same school uniform day after day, Li Sitong just wanted to dress her up like a little princess and take her out every day.

She, Li Sitong, finally had a moment when she could proudly say, “This is my daughter”!

Li Sitong blinked, looking at the stunningly beautiful girl before her, her eyes a bit moist.

The charm of a young girl in her prime was just like a flower about to bloom—just a touch of lip gloss on her lips made her face radiant enough.

Xue Jiao somewhat uncomfortably tugged at the hem of her clothes: “Isn’t it… too thin?”

“No!” Li Sitong smiled and adjusted her collar, “The theater is quite warm. Take that white coat with you, and if you need to go outside, wrap it around you.”

Xue Jiao uncomfortably avoided Li Sitong’s hand: “I’ll do it myself!”

Li Sitong’s hand stiffened slightly, her eyes showing a hint of dimness.

——

“Aren’t they down yet?” Cheng Mingze munched on an apple, saying with boredom.

Cheng Shuo put down his newspaper and smiled at him: “Young man, patience when waiting for ladies is a basic courtesy for a gentleman.”

Cheng Mingze pouted: “A true lady wouldn’t keep a gentleman waiting too long.”

“You little rascal!” Cheng Shuo glared.

At that moment, footsteps were heard from upstairs.

Cheng Shuo’s eyes lit up with a smile again: “The ladies in our family are all ladies.”

Cheng Mingze didn’t say anything, just pouted and moved his gaze to the stairway, then froze.

It was hard to describe that feeling—like when you regularly pass by a flower pot with a bud. Previously, this flower pot always got in your way, making you annoyed whenever you saw it, so you never carefully observed the beauty of this flower.

But one day, the flower no longer blocked your path but instead kept its distance, quietly blooming…

That feeling was somewhat inexplicable and also somewhat dazed.

Cheng Mingze couldn’t precisely describe this feeling at the moment, but one day, when he finally saw the beauty of this flower clearly, he would discover that the flower had already been cherished by someone else.

The heartache of that moment would be beyond words.

“My daughter is truly beautiful!” Cheng Shuo couldn’t help but exclaim loudly, proud and gratified.

Xue Jiao uncomfortably touched her loose, messy bun that seemed about to come undone, looking embarrassed.

Cheng Shuo smiled even more kindly: “Jiaojiao, I’m not lying. Mingze, tell me, doesn’t your sister look beautiful today?”